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I have been struggling, pretty consistently, for the past 10 + years with some strong abdominal and back pain. It has been a constant frustration in my life up until a few years ago when I discovered I had a upj obstruction on my right kidney (you can read about it here). The pain went away for a bit only to return a year later. Another surgery, pain disappeared, it returned again this year. Lots of tests to check my kidneys. Lots of frustration after every turn finding out that it wasn’t my kidneys this time. I was miserable.

This might gross some people out. I apologize. I had a nephrostomy tube put in, basically my
right kidney peed into a bag that was punched into my side to my kidney. It was a little bloody.

So what was it? At the final doctor visit with my urologist he suggested that it was possibly something I was allergic to. When I first found out about all of this I suggested 3 years ago to the ER doctors that I originally thought it was related to food and they decided differently and that is when they discovered my obstruction. Whether I’ve been right all this time or it was just a blessing in disguise to discover my obstruction I’m not sure. My urologist said it could be anything from dairy to gluten to IBS. He suggested I fast gluten then dairy.

I did not like this idea. I love breads! I love cheese! I love milk! I could not imagine not eating these things. Dramatic, I know.

So I rebelled against his advice for 3 days, against Dylan’s better wishes. I honestly thought the whole Gluten Free thing was just a fad, just a trendy eating craze for most. I knew there were legit people out there with Celiac and I thought there was no way I was one of those gluten free people. Well I finally broke down and took gluten out of my diet and sure enough, within the week my symptoms began to slowly disappear. I did it for two weeks and then was going to go back on and take out dairy and see the difference. I ate a giant falafel burger in kc after Dylan proposed. During the flights home I was in some immense pain. Lesson learned, the hard way. No more gluten.

So now I have cut out gluten, It has taken me a while to not be bitter about it and I am slowly learning to accept it more and more. It’s been really great to have Dylan with me on this. He tends to think about what has gluten in it more than I do because it’s still not natural to think through or check the ingredients of items. Dylan is there to gently remind me that I can’t have it, which usually makes me super bummed but I am learning. I was extremely moody during the first two months, but my mood seems to be leveling out now, not sure if this is normal or not. My two red heads have been there with lots of hugs and kisses and companionship, they have been troopers through my little fits of frustration about not being able to eat “normal.”

This is still new and I am still learning to view this as an opportunity to try new things or get creative with recipes, so bear with me. A neighbor has Celiac and she and her house mates have been extremely encouraging through this. They gave me a bunch of food and tips when I came over in frustration one night. They’re great!

This has all been a self diagnosis with some advice along the way from a doctor friend. I have an appointment to get some blood work soo and possibly an allergy test. We shall see. I don’t believe I have celiac disease, just an a gluten intolerance.

So that’s it. It’s a new journey, one I’m still adjusting to. This was not a post to complain or for pity just a statement of discovery and to tell of a new journey. If you come across any good GF recipes to share with me please do. My friend Hannah has offered to share an amazing GF cake recipe that I will share tomorrow. I am so excited that she is sharing it!

If you have a similar GF discovery, share it. I’d love to hear how others discovered it and how they have adjusted to it.

I’m definitely with you on the tendency to be bitter and moody…the first six months I had celiac were awful. It also seemed like at every church service I attended someone would talk about how significant Communion was, the symbolism of “all eating from the same loaf”…which just made everything worse, since I literally couldn’t eat it. It does get better though, especially the more you make people around you aware of it. At this point I think I’ve influenced 2-3 churches to start offering gluten-free Communion options, so talking about it (or, in one case, going up sobbing during a college chapel service and saying “I can’t eat bread!”) can help. And if you need anything (or want to borrow some gluten-free cookbooks) you know where to find me. 🙂

(Oh man, gotta love links to my DeviantArt…some of that stuff is so old! Apparently I need to put those paintings on my Flickr.)